Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
PO. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
www.dailyemerald.com
Thursday, April 25,2002
Editor in Chief:
Jessica Blanchard
Managing Editor:
Jeremy Lang
Editorial Editor:
Julie Lauderbaugh
Assistant Editorial Editor:
Jacquelyn Lewis
Editorial
Abercrombie wrong
to add to prejudices
c
lothing empire Aber
crombie & Fitch’s latest
T-shirt design depicting
^ Asians as nothing more
than laundry service workers is
tasteless and crude. To their cred
it, the clothier did pull the offen
sive shirts from shelves after nu
merous complaints. But
Abercrombie & Fitch should be
ashamed of themselves for per
petuating a stereotype that
should have died a century ago.
The most offensive of the new
line was a T-shirt reading “Wong
Brothers Laundry Service—Two
Wongs Can Make It White.” The
shirt depicted two smiling Asian
men with slanted eyes and tradi
tional hats. Another style fea
tured a smiling Buddha with the
slogan “Abercrombie and Fitch
Buddha Bash — Get Your Buddha
on the Floor. "The humor and log
ic behind the design is beyond
good judgment, and it’s amazing
the company's officials approved
the shirts.
Abercrombie & Fitch
spokesman Hampton Carney told
the Associated Press the shirts
were created to cater to Asians
and reasoned the company makes
fun of everyone. Carney cited past
satirical clothing designs includ
ed a foreign waitress, taxi drivers
and Britons. But just because the
company stereotypes everyone
doesn’t mean it’s okay to contin
ue. Any attempt to perpetuate
racial and social stereotypes is a
blow to society. And any endeav
or to trivialize an entire culture’s
philosophy and religion only en
courages bigoted attitudes.
Student representatives from
the University’s Asian Pacific
American Student Union were
unaware of the T-shirts or the
backlash against Abercrombie &
Fitch. But Asian students at
Brown University protested at
their local mall in front of the
store and demanded an apology
from the clothier. And Asian stu
dents at Stanford University start
ed a phone and e-mail campaign
calling for the same action.
Racism and bigotry are issues
that constantly resurface within
American society and it doesn’t
help when popular clothing re
tailers promote closed-minded
ideas. With increased scrutiny on
race relations and racial profiling
in metropolitan cities, the mes
sages Abercrombie & Fitch is put
ting out for kids don’t help — they
only fueled the social labels that
already exist.
Asian men and women are
much more than the laundry
service maids that Abercrombie &
Fitch makes them out to be. Soci
ety can only move past intoler
ance of any sort as far as popular
culture will let it. And if a popu
lar store like Abercrombie & Fitch
is any indication, society has a
long way to go before racist atti
tudes can be changed.
Earth Day, ice cream
equal success at UO
Eugene residents and Uni
versity students should be
recognized for their sup
port ofthe Survival Cen
ter’s Earth Day celebration on
Monday. A large crowd of be
tween 400 and 500 people filled
the EMU Amphitheater to honor
our Earth. It’s great so many peo
ple were on hand for the event at a
time when attention to natural re
sources is imperative for continu
ing to live in the modern world.
Another event on Monday also
gave us reason to cheer. Ben & Jer
ry’s Eugene ice cream shop
should be commended forgiving
away more than 10,000 scoops of
free ice cream during their “Free
Cone Day. ” Ice cream has a way of
bringing people together—albeit
in a long line — and lifting the
spirits of students bogged down
by course work. The free scoops
certainly boosted morale around
the Emerald office.
The company has shown it is
dedicated to improving local com
munities. The “Free Cone Day” in
Eugene alone helped raise more
than $1,000 in donations to help
the Eugene Relief Nursery.
Editorial Policy
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. Responses
can be sent to letters@dailyemerald.com. Letters to the editor and guest
commentaries are encouraged. Letters are limited to 250 words and guest
commentaries to 550 words. Please include contact information. The
Emerald reserves the right to edit for space, grammar and style.
Editorial Board Members
Jessica Blanchard
editor in chief
Jacquelyn Lewis
assistant editorial editor
Jeremy Lang
managing editor
Peter Hockaday
newsroom representative
Julie Laudertaaugh
editorial editor
Jerad Nicholson
community representative
‘Girls (and boys)
Gone Drinking’
It’s amazing what you can
learn while watching
“Extra.”
You know, the Entertain
ment Tonight knockoff that fea
tures in-depth stories on Tom
Cruise’s flossing habits and
Catherine Zeta Jones’ most re
cent brush with terminal flatu
lence. In other words, hard
news that Edward Murrow
would have been proud of.
“Extra” is the type of phe
nomenon that could only exist
right now, and it’s proof that
we’ve moved far, far beyond
what the Romans would have
considered dangerously exces
sive decadence.
Although, I like to think the
Romans would have appreciat
ed last week’s super-special fea
ture on Joe Francis, the young
entrepreneur behind the incred
ibly successful “Girls Gone
Wild” series of mail-order,
soft-core boobs videos.
And when I say boobs, I am, of
course, referring to the people
who order them.
Yes, the Romans would have
appreciated the raw, undiluted
cynicism needed to make a buck
by sending low-grade videotapes
of drunken sorority girls taking
off their tops at Mardi Gras
— just like the way they respect
ed the idea to put a bear, a lion
and 25 slave boys together in the
Coliseum for a violent frolic.
“Extra’s” selective coverage is
evidence of our civilization’s
coming demise.
To prove this point, the info
tainment program blatantly ig
J nored a story that would have
had far more impact for its view
ers. The week before last, Har
vard’s School of Public Health re
leased some disturbing, if not all
that surprising, statistics con
cerning binge drinking on col
lege campus
es. According
to the study,
which was
done way
back in ’99,
44 percent of
all college
students re
ported binge
drinking in
the two
weeks lead
ing up to the
survey.
Further
more, the
study determined that being an
athlete, a frat boy, a sorority girl
or just plain white upped the
odds of binge drinking.
For men, binge drinking was
defined as having five or more
drinks in a row, and for women it
was four or more. From personal
experience I know that I can, on
a frill stomach, put away five
whiskey sours without feeling
terribly reckless, but hey, maybe
I’m a different breed of cat.
Regardless, in my completely
un-puritanical opinion, binge
drinking doesn’t have to be a
problem in and of itself, as long
as it doesn’t wreak havoc on the
rest of your life, encourage vio
lent behavior or become your
daily routine.
Unfortunately, the study found
that on the average, regular binge
TenPas
Columnist
drinking (more than three times a
month) does lead to all these
things. It also found that binge
drinkers are far more likely to ei
ther commit or become the vic
tim of sexual violence.
That’s where “Girls Gone
Wild” comes in.
In his interview with the
quantum physicists at “Extra,”
Francis lamented, “The tough
est thing for me is finding a girl,
and dating a girl and knowing
that she’s not after these things
that basically aren’t important
to me.”
What “things” are those,
Joey? The jet and vacation
house you bought with the
money you got exploiting binge
drinking fools? Or perhaps
you’re referring to the T-shirts
you gave away to the gals who
“bared it all” for your cameras?
After all, no sensible hetero
sexual male would think it was
cool if his girlfriend embarrassed
herself on a nationally televised
commercial, but somebody’s
helping scum like Francis be
come millionaires.
It’s exactly this kind of mud
dled thinking and objectification
of women that’s causing these
rising numbers of binge drink
ing-related sexual assaults.
When men drink, they get
crazy. When women drink, they
get wild. Nonsense.
You shouldn’t believe every
thing you see on TV. Even when
it’s a class act like “Extra.”
E-mail columnist Jacob TenPas
at jacobtenpas@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily reflect
those of the Emerald.